Marijuana stores will be on November ballot for Brighton voters

BRIGHTON - The City Council Monday voted 6-1 to place a recreational marijuana ballot proposal on the November ballot, following a Livingston County judge's order requiring them to do so.

Voters who live in the city will decide at the polls Nov. 8 whether to allow at least two marijuana stores and repeal the city's ban on marijuana businesses, after hundreds of local residents signed petitions.

A group with ties to the marijuana industry, Say Yes to Brighton Committee, prompted the ballot initiative. They collected 746 signatures, surpassing the 204 required valid signatures, from residents to get the issue on the ballot.

The Say Yes then sued the city, its elections department and city Clerk Tara Brown after Brown rejected signed petitions submitted by the committee earlier this month on a technicality related to how the petitions were formatted, according to court documents.

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After Livingston County Chief Circuit Court Judge Michael Hatty issued an order last week, the Council voted to approve ballot language. Mayor Kristoffer Tobbe was the only council member to vote against approving the ballot language.

While Brighton officials have previously considered "opting in" to marijuana business by creating a city ordinance to regulate them, they recently reaffirmed the city's ban. Officials also had discussed whether the city should get ahead of special interest groups that could petition to place the question on the ballot and force their hand, but they decided to keep the city opted out.

A council motion Thursday to appeal Hatty's ruling failed in a 4-3 vote after council members went into a closed session to discuss it.

What will Brighton voters decide?

The city-approved ballot language is very similar to the language in the Say Yes to Brighton Committee's petition. Brown worked with city attorneys from Foster, Swift, Collins & Smith to craft the final language that will appear on the ballot to comply with the court order and shield the city from future suits.

City officials said Brown will certify the ballot proposal with Livingston County elections officials by Thursday.

Voters will be asked whether to allow for at least two adult-use retail marijuana establishments within city limits, effective Dec. 1.

The ballot language says the businesses would be allowed to offer delivery, drive-thru and exterior walk-up windows. The establishments would not be allowed within 800 feet of a public or private grade schools or parks larger than 1 acre. It also would allow the city to enact police and zoning regulations related to marijuana businesses.

It stipulates marijuana stores would only be allowed if the person or entity that would hold the state license has obtained pre-qualification with the state's Cannabis Regulatory Agency within 30 days after the ballot language is certified to the county clerk. It also stipulates the person or entity to hold the state license must have a recorded interest in the property.

The stipulations concerned some council members, who speculated at Monday's meeting that the 30-day time clock would give an advantage to certain players in the cannabis industry over other would-be marijuana store operators.

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"It would be easy to draw the conclusion that it’s almost like this ordinance was written for a specific company or two, or someone’s got an inside track to get the business with no competition," Mayor Pro Tem Jim Bohn said. "I’m just wondering, is this legal? And if it does pass, the voters pass it, could the city get sued over this ordinance because it’s really not fair?" he asked city attorney Sarah Gabis.

Gabis said rendering an opinion on the proposed ordinance's legality before voters decide would be "premature."

Council member Susan Gardner said it will be important to educate voters on what the ballot language means, and she expressed concern the proposed ordinance would limit competition.

"It is important for the residents as they vote to understand that this language is written in such a way that there are some pretty limited qualifications," Gardner said, adding, "It would either strictly limit or perhaps even do away with competition. Am I right?"

Gabis said the proposed ordinance "appears to grant an automatic license to somebody who has interest in property in the city ad has pre-qualification status of the state within 30 days (of certification)."

She said whether it limits competition is probably the subject of a privileged communication off the public record.

Brighton "opted out"

No Marijuana businesses are currently allowed in the city, which "opted out" under Michigan's recreational marijuana law.

City officials explored the possibility of creating their own ordinance for marijuana businesses, but voted in March to reaffirm the city's ban.

In 2021, Brighton City Council passed a resolution instructing the city's planning commission to begin an ordinance review process and identify possible locations for marijuana businesses.

At the time, council stipulated that marijuana businesses would not be allowed in or around the downtown business district, including Main Street, and discussed not allowing them within 1,000 feet of a school.

The Say Yes to Brighton ballot proposal does not include language prohibiting businesses in the downtown district.

Brighton resident Brett Cole, who spoke during public comment, worried about "corporate weed" dictating the rules instead of city officials.

"Understanding the moral question. Understanding it’s a tough pill to swallow, we could avoid this ballot initiative by enacting your rules and ordinances, our rules and ordinances, before someone else enacts rules that accommodate them and not us," he said, adding, "We don’t want big business, corporate weed, coming in to our town and dictating the rules and ordinance."

Individuals in the cannabis industry are involved with the committee, according to court documents. Those names in court documents include cannabis industry player Jeff Yatooma, Canna Zoned MLS cannabis real state broker Keri Knipple and committee attorney Joey Kejbou, who also owns dispensaries, were identified in court documents. Canna Zoned MLS, a cannabis industry development and real estate firm, posted jobs in July for ballot canvassers in Brighton, according to multiple job posting sites.

In 2018, about 56% of voters in the city supported a state proposal that legalized recreational marijuana for adults 21 and older in the state.

Contact Livingston Daily reporter Jennifer Eberbach at jeberbach@livingstondaily.com. 

This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Marijuana stores will be on November ballot for Brighton voters